Bob Powell Appreciation Thread 0

[Robot Man]

Any other Powell fans out there? Personally, I love his work both covers and interior work. He seems to turn up everywhere. Very under rated artist in my opinion.

I'll just post a small amount of his work and let you folks fill in the blanks.

[Robot Man]

[Robot Man]

[Pat Calhoun]

[Pat Calhoun]

[Electricmastro]

First took notice of Powell for his Red Hawk art from Straight Arrow, which I quite liked:

Edited November 8, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Pat Calhoun]

[buttock]

Quite possibly the single most underrated artist of the golden age.  I think it would come down to him or Jack Cole.  I think he's just brilliant.  

[Electricmastro]

23 minutes ago, buttock said:

Quite possibly the single most underrated artist of the golden age.  I think it would come down to him or Jack Cole.  I think he's just brilliant.  

Of the many pieces of art I’ve looked at from Golden Age publishers that are small and not-as-small, I’ve come to think that Rudy Palais is perhaps the most underappreciated comic book artist of his time, with how distinct and impactful his art was regardless of the genre. Bob Powell definitely deserves more appreciation though.

Edited November 8, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Pat Calhoun]

Rudy Palais came to my mind too, Mastro. Maybe you could please start or resurrect a thread on him, thanks and cheers, Pat

[Electricmastro]

12 minutes ago, Pat Calhoun said:

Rudy Palais came to my mind too, Mastro. Maybe you could please start or resurrect a thread on him, thanks and cheers, Pat

Yep, right here: 

 

[Robot Man]

A few more. Where be @Tri-ColorBrian?

[adamstrange]

Powell was a very good artist with a lively imagination who excelled at creating interesting images as well as crafting compelling stories, told visually.  He often employed an assistant and, even when that was the talented Howard Nostrand, that impacted the quality of his art.

[adamstrange]

[Pat Calhoun]

[707comics]

[adamstrange]

[KCOComics]

Not specific to Powell, but does Shadow comics feel under appreciated to people? I've always felt their covers were extremely diverse. From detective covers, to GGA and PCH. I never understood why they are so "affordable" compared to others of the same genres. 

[Electricmastro]

7 minutes ago, KCOComics said:

Not specific to Powell, but does Shadow comics feel under appreciated to people? I've always felt their covers were extremely diverse. From detective covers, to GGA and PCH. I never understood why they are so "affordable" compared to others of the same genres. 

The original Shadow Comics definitely felt it had various ways of making an interesting cover compared to something like Alex Schomburg’s covers and Fiction House covers, which I think are quite a bit more liable of being accused of having covers that are too similar despite how well-drawn they are otherwise. Street and Smith’s comics in general seem to fall in that middle category between comics that are very well-known and comics that are so obscure that people feel they need to point them out more, despite how relatively well-known the Shadow was and is today. It probably doesn’t help that Street and Smith’s comics are believed to not be in public domain, so they aren’t shared around as much for people to browse through.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Electricmastro

[Electricmastro]

Powell was also pretty prolific in terms of the publishers he worked for back in the day:

Marvel

Harvey

Dell

Charlton

Fawcett

Quality

St. John

Fiction House

Lev Gleason

Magazine Enterprises

Fox

Hillman

Parents' Magazine Press

Street and Smith

Toby Press

Ziff-Davis

Holyoke

And various smaller comic book publishers as well.